UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS

August 13, 2007

Counseling mothers about HIV and AIDS

After a long weekend, I visited today the Goed Fortune clinic on the West Coast of Demerara. Most of the mothers on this day were returning mothers who were at the clinic as part of their regular check up. There was no new admission.
 
Two mothers came to collect their HIV test results. They both tested negative and were very happy about the results. I informed them that they will need to undergo another test within the next three weeks and they agreed saying that they have no problem with that.
 
One of the mothers said she will encourage her partner to come to the clinic and get tested too. She said at home the two of them are always paying attention to HIV stories on the news and often have discussions about the issue. 
 
Tuesday 14th August 2007
Georgetown hospital was my destination today and as usual, the clinic was very busy. More than 35 mothers were present; many of them were first-time mothers. For the new mothers, I carried out my lecture on the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme to find out how much they knew about HIV.
 
I was surprised that many of the mothers gathered here today had only very basic information about HIV and were not aware of all of its causes and HIV prevention methods. They expressed some surprise that it is possible for an HIV-positive mother to give birth to an HIV-negative baby who could grow up and live a normal healthy life.
 
One mother asked about the impact on her own children if she was HIV-positive and they found out about it. I explained to her that it was up to her to decide whether she should tell her children about her status or not. It was a decision only she could make herself. All of the mothers agreed to be tested and are awaiting their results.
 
Wednesday 15th August 2007
Day 2 at the Georgetown hospital. Today we had a much smaller clinic with just about 14 new mothers attending. We had our usual discussion on HIV and they responded well to the new information we offered.
 
One mother raised the question about the need to get men involved with the clinics too. She said that a lot of the time, valuable bits of information are passed on to the women only and although they tell their husbands about the clinics, they would prefer if we do some work in the area. UNICEF has been supporting male involvement in antenatal care and PMTCT. We have been advocating for partners to be counseled and tested rather than pregnant women only. As part of our PMTCT programme, pregnant women found to be infected are asked to refer their partners for both counseling and testing.
 
Thursday 16th August 2007
This is usually my day at the Vree den Hoop clinic but I spent most of the day in the company of a counselor from the UNICEF-supported local NGO Lifeline Counseling Services and we decided to visit an HIV positive mother in the village of Pouderoyen on the West Coast of Demerara.
 
It was a long walk to reach the home of the mother who was caring for her 5 children. The Lifeline counselor was kind enough to walk along with some much needed school items as well as baby items for the woman and her children.
 
The woman is currently pregnant and is not working. When we arrived there, she was very happy to see us and welcomed us into her home.
 
We talked about the problems she faces at home and with her family and encouraged her to take care of herself by eating healthy and staying healthy. The Lifeline counselor seemed amazed that despite the woman’s difficult way of life, she was in such high spirits. We spent over 2 hours in conversation with her and she was happy to see us and she even asked us to come for another visit. That visit has not been planned as yet. 
 
Friday 17th August 2007
Today I traveled to Leonora for another day at the clinic there. About 10 mothers attended the clinic. They were all returning mothers. The clinic is housed in an old house in the village as we anxiously await the opening of the new hospital which will accommodate the new clinic. Hopefully the new clinic will attract many more mothers. One mother told us about how much she has learnt from attending the PMTCT clinic. She told us that she has learnt so much that she has been working along with a small peer counseling group back in her community in an effort to speak more to young people about HIV and how they should be protecting themselves. She also told us the story about how she had lost her close friend to the disease. She explained that her friend’s death had encouraged her to stay with one partner and encouraged her partner to stay with her.
 
Tuesday 21st August 2007 
The Vree-den-Hoop clinic was my destination again today and it appears as though this clinic is becoming larger by the week! I was surprised to see 22 new mothers being enrolled and so I wasted no time to speak to them about HIV and AIDS as well as the PMTCT programme.
 
After my meeting with them I contacted my other field workers to find out how they have been getting along with their work. We have been trying to meet with an HIV positive mother who recently lost her child. We have made several house calls but continue to hear that she is not at home. We suspect that she may very well be pregnant again.
 
Although her partner has never been tested, we strongly believe that he may be HIV-positive and we would like to meet with him to get him tested and counseled. The young lady has already lost two babies.
 
Wednesday 23rd August 2007 
I was back at the Georgetown hospital today and spent just half of the day there because of a previously-arranged meeting that I had to attend. While at the hospital I met with five returning mothers who were there to pick up their HIV-test results, they all tested negative and expressed a sense of relief. As usual, I encouraged them to pass the news onto their partners and encourage those partners too to be tested. Another test will be done on the same mothers within the next few weeks. Overall, the last ten days have been productive but there’s still so much to be done!